“Your men would never turn out such work as that, would they?”

“Not if they valued their jobs, they wouldn’t. Oh, we all make mistakes now and again, and I’m well aware of it. But this type of work where the metal is heavier in places than it should be leaves the window weak and prone to cracking.”

“Ah. So the problem with this piece isn’t the uneven metal, but the weight of what is there.”

“Aye. The secret is balance. If you’re heavy on one side and not the other, the window can warp. The metal’s only purpose is to link the glass together and lend some form to the whole. The frame is where the real strength of the window is built.”

Devon watched her glowing face, faintly envious. “You like doing this.”

“I cannot imagine not doing it,” she said honestly. “I love the whole process, from the design, to cutting the pieces, to applying the metals, to seeing the finished window.”

He tapped the glass on the table before them. “What about fixing other people’s errors?”

She laughed, the sound infectious. “Even that, though ’tis fortunate we are not oft asked to do such a thing. Truly, had this one not kept cracking, no one but the lads and I would have ever noticed the flaws. ’Tis a lovely piece despite the errors.”

Devon leaned his hip against the table, facing her so that he could see every nuance of her face. With the exception of Simon, who stood glaring not five feet away, it was as if Kat and Devon were alone, for no one else was near enough to hear. “You are very different from the women of my world.”

Her face shuttered. After a moment she said, “Not so different.”

“But you are. Most of the women I know think marriage their goal. But not you.”

“No,” she said. “Not I.”

He had to smile at her flat expression. Usually he was the one with that particularly unimpressed look. “Would you give up all of this for the right man?”

She snorted, then caught herself and blushed. “I am sorry. See the hazards of working among men all day? I’ve no delicacy left.”

Oh, but how he disagreed. Even dressed in servant’s clothing and with soot streak down one cheek, she was beautiful, womanly, and ladylike. He couldn’t explain how she did it, but she did. He reached out and wiped away the soot with the pad of his thumb.

He dropped his hand when the mark was gone. “I have to wonder if you snorted because you would never give up your calling for the right man?”